Abstract
This article is part of a wider study that examines over 10,000 jurors’ testimonies in proof-of-age hearings from 1246 to 1432, which were conducted to determine the legal majority of heirs-in-chief of the crown. It looks specifically at more than 1,500 references to the ceremony of baptism and tries to build up a picture of what the service was like in the memories of the participants. It reveals the haste and sometimes confusion of the preparations beforehand, the naming of infants, the role of godparents, the use of writing and the giving of gifts to record the birth, the celebrations that accompanied it, and details of the ceremonial itself, including the processions with lit torches and the crowds that often gathered. Despite the stereotypical nature of much testimony, it attempts to capture the atmosphere of what went on and what stuck in the minds of jurors.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
See Becky R. Lee, ‘‘A Company of Women and Men: Men’s Recollection of Childbirth in Medieval England,’’ Journal of Family History 27, no.2 (April 2002): 92-100; B. Gregory Bailey et al., ‘‘Coming of Age and the Family in Medieval England,’’ Journal of Family History 33, no. 1 (January 2008): 41-60.
2.
Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents Preserved in the Public Record Office, 23 vols. (London: HMSO 1904-Present).
3.
Christine Carter, the general editor of the New Series of the Calendar, described jurors as middling or ‘‘village’’ status. C. Carpenter, ‘‘Introduction,’’ in CIPM, xxii, ed. K. Parkin (Woodbridge, 2003), 16. In 719 of the 10,318 testimonies (7.0 percent), a juror’s employment or occupation was specifically mentioned in the record. Of these 719, almost a third (30.6 percent) was described as servants, usually of the land-owning family whose heir was the subject of the hearing. From 1360 onward, less than 1 percent was described as knights.
4.
At present, there is a gap in the Calendar between 1432 and 1485 at which point the second series covering the reign of Henry VII begins.
5.
What follows is part of a larger study of the proof record.
6.
Joan Eglesfeld was typical. She was born during the night and baptized the following morning. CIPM, xiii, no. 66. Medieval theology, following Thomas Aquinas, assigned unbaptized babies (at best) to Limbo-hence the urgency of baptism. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 55 vols. (London, 1963), 52, 3a, q52, 7, 173-7.
7.
’’The same afternoon came his servant from Bothal announcing that Alice Gobyon, mother of the said Robert, had born a son, and on the morrow he was present when he was baptised.’’ CIPM, v, no. 52.
8.
CIPM, v, no. 151.
9.
CIPM, xx, no. 130.
10.
‘‘Walter de Ludewrth ... knows because a certain Walter Man had a daughter born, named Alice, and took the said Walter [de LudewrthJ with him to the aforesaid church of Wermuth, and caused him, then aged nine years, to lift the said daughter from the sacred font, on the same 2nd of November, and then and there he saw the aforesaid Robert baptised before the said Alice, whereby a long delay occurred, for which cause she wept, and he knows by the age of the said Alice, who survives, that the aforesaid Robert has completed the age of twenty-four years, as they have often computed among themselves.’’ CIPM, vii, no. 171.
11.
John del Brigge stood in for the parish clerk simple because he happened to be in church at the time. He ‘‘came to the church of Castelcayrok as a parishioner to hear mass, and before mass a daughter of John de Eglesfeld, born the night before, came to receive baptism; and because the clerk of the church was absent, he helped the parish priest to baptise the child, who was called Joan, and is the one named in the writ.’’ CIPM, xiii, no. 66.
12.
CIPM, viii, no. 142.
13.
CIPM, x, no. 262.
14.
The proof of William Deyncourt. CIPM, xv, no. 159.
15.
CIPM, x, no. 262.
16.
CIPM, ix, no. 1000. Other examples are CIPM, xv, no. 655; xviii, no. 944; xxiii, no. 601.
17.
CIPM, iii, no. 623.
18.
CIPM, viii, no. 142.
19.
For example, CIPM, x, no. 202.
20.
CIPM, x, no. 202.
21.
Queen Eleanor, for example, was the godmother of Mary Mohun in 1297. CIPM, iii, no. 330. In 1370, Queen Philippa ‘‘ordered’’ her daughter Isabel to be godmother to Philip Vache. CIPM, xiii, no. 65. At the very summit of aspiration was the presence of King Edward II who acted as godfather to Edward Hauberger at Feltham in 1338. CIPM, viii, no. 186.
22.
For example, CIPM, x, no. 452, where the godmother was a prioress; CIPM, x, no. 333, where the godfather was a knight.
23.
Richard Lestraunge’s godmother was simply named as ‘‘Elizabeth le Despenser.’’ CIPM, vii, no. 639.
24.
CIPM, x, no. 264.
25.
CIPM, iii, no. 437.
26.
CIPM, iv, no. 53.
27.
CIPM, xiii, no. 66. In 1405, Robert Skipton was equally surprised ‘‘that Thomas was not given his godfather’s name.’’ CIPM, xviii, no. 1140.
28.
If anything, the picture tends to reinforce Barbara Hanawalt’s view that godparentship was a relatively insignificant institution in the late medieval period. B. Hanawalt, The Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England (New York, 1986), 248; rather than John Bossy’s argument that it was a vital social and religious cement that was sapped of its cohesive power in the late seventeenth century. J. Bossy, Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (Oxford, 1985), 117-8. On the question of whether godparentship was designed to intensify or extend kinship or social relationships (S. W. Mintz and E. R. Wolf, ‘‘An Analysis of Ritual Co-Parenthood,’’ Southwestern Journal of Anthopology, 6 [1950]: 341-68), both factors seem to be in play (c.f. L. Hass, ‘Social Connections between Parents and Godparents in Late Medieval Yorkshire, Medieval Prosopography, 10 [1989]: 1-21). As to the role of godparents in the naming of children, clearly they played some part, but other factors were also in play, including family tradition and personal preference (c.f. J. Dapaquier, ‘‘Naming Practices, Godparenthood and Kinship in the Vexin, 1540-1900,’’ Journal of Family History, 6 [1981]: 135-55).
29.
CIPM, x, no. 333.
30.
CIPM, xv, no. 159. The Sarum rite prescribed a movement from the church door to the font and on to the high altar, symbolizing the infant’s progressive acceptance into the church. It is detailed in E. C. Whitaker, ed., Documents of the Baptismal Liturgy, further edited by M. E. Johnson (London, 1960; 2nd ed., 2003), 284-307. J. D. C. Fisher, ed., Christian Initiation: Baptism in the Medieval West, A Study in the Disintegration of the Primitive Rite of Initiation (London, 1965), 162.
31.
Overall, 10.17 percent of baptism testimonies also mention the production of a written record. The proportion increased throughout the fourteenth century. Before 1300, 0 percent of baptismal testimonies referred also to writing; between 1300 and 1340, 6.09 percent did so and from 1341 to 1390, the proportion was 15.80 percent.
32.
For example, CIPM, vii, no. 479; xvii, no. 575.
33.
CIPM, vii, no. 479.
34.
CIPM, viii, no. 68.
35.
CIPM, xix, no. 777.
36.
CIPM, xx, no. 277.
37.
‘‘The date was written in English in a book and read out whilst they were there.’’ CIPM, xx, no. 131.
38.
‘‘The father asked the parson to write in a missal in English, ‘‘And Nycol the son of John atte Hull and Crystyne his wife was y bore’’.’’ CIPM, xx, no. 272.
39.
Gift giving associated with baptism is mentioned in 0 percent of testimonies before 1300, 0.51 percent between 1300 and 1340, and 4.16 percent from 1341 to 1390.
40.
CIPM, ix, no. 60.
41.
CIPM, ix, no. 61.
42.
CIPM, ix, no. 244.
43.
CIPM, x, no. 645.
44.
CIPM, xi, no. 379.
45.
CIPM, x. no. 333.
46.
CIPM, xviii, no. 953.
47.
CIPM, xix, no. 655.
48.
CIPM, xx, no. 131.
49.
CIPM, xxi, no. 558.
50.
CIPM, xx, no. 131.
51.
CIPM, x, no. 262.
52.
See above, no. 41.
53.
He was ‘‘present at the baptism, and immediately afterwards saw Agnes give a silver cup with a gilt cover to Thomas and 20s. to the nurse.’’ CIPM, xix, no. 655.
54.
CIPM, xviii, no. 944.
55.
His two godfathers were Thomas la Warre and Adam de Leverington, sometime prior of Sempringham, and the godmother was Lady Hawise de Luterell. CIPM, xviii, no. 998.
56.
CIPM, xix, no. 780.
57.
CIPM, xx, no. 263.
58.
CIPM, xiv, no. 299.
59.
CIPM, x, no. 645.
60.
CIPM, xix, no. 997.
61.
CIPM, xix, no. 999.
62.
CIPM, xix, no. 105.
63.
In late medieval practice, the midwife answered the first question of the baptismal service. The priest asked her at the church door whether the child was male or female. Fisher, Christian Initiation, 237.
64.
CIPM, xvii, no. 1179.
65.
CIPM, xix, no. 990.
66.
CIPM, xviii, no. 995.
67.
CIPM, xxii, no. 358.
68.
CIPM, x, no. 335.
69.
Robert Aunger was typical. He ‘‘heard Margaret, wife of William le Webbe of Eystans, midwife (obstetricem) of Joan, mother of the said Eleanor, swear on the Book that the said Eleanor was 14 years old on Easter day last.’’ CIPM, x, no. 535.
70.
For example, CIPM, xviii, no. 999.
71.
Anne Cifford’s grandfather gave her midwife 20s. CIPM, xix, no. 665.
72.
Pannus involutus. CIPM, vii, no. 695.
73.
Isabel Harper, named alongside the godparents by an Isle of Wight juror, ‘‘brought a comb for William as soon as she saw him born because he had a hairy head.’’ CIPM, xxiii, no. 421.
74.
For example, CIPM, xviii, no. 998.
75.
CIPM, xiv, no. 304.
76.
CIPM, xviii, no. 310.
77.
CIPM, xviii, no. 672. Salt, long associated with the casting out of spirits, was blessed and placed in the child’s mouth.
78.
CIPM, xvii, no. 576.
79.
CIPM, xvii, no. 576. The child was anointed on the forehead with chrism that was a mixture of oil and balm.
80.
CIPM, xxii, no. 530.
81.
CIPM, xxiii, no. 602.
82.
For example, William Frome who was ‘‘present at her baptism, and being asked by Peter Blount, her father, to be her godfather, he flatly (totaliter) refused, because it was possible that he might survive the said Peter and afterwards marry the said Margaret.’’ CIPM, xi, no. 129. Another example can be found in CIPM, xiii, no. 141. The rules applied to male and female godparents, but I can find no instance of a godmother refusing duty for that reason.
83.
John de Warmwell, for example, attended because he happened to meet a godmother. CIPM, xiv, no. 166.
84.
For example, CIPM, xiv, no. 68.
85.
For example, CIPM, xiv, no. 299. One has the feeling that the post baptism activity of Hugh Plowright and Richard Outlawe who ‘‘on that day went with master lvo la Zouch, chancellor of Cambridge University, to the church, and after the baptism to the house of the friars minor to hear the preaching of holy scripture’’ was exceptional. CIPM, xviii, no. 310.
86.
CIPM, xv, no. 658.
87.
CIPM, xvii, no. 430. Walter Lamberd certainly did: he ‘‘says that on the day the said Edward was baptised an agreement was made between him and John Bell of Esynden in the church there touching divers trespasses, and he saw the parish chaplain holding the said Edward in his hands the other side of (ultra) the font for baptism.’’ CIPM, x, no. 333.
88.
CIPM, xvii, no. 1321.
89.
CIPM, v, no. 228 and CIPM, xxii, no. 358.
90.
About 11.7 percent of jurors who mentioned baptism referred to the raising of the child from the font.
91.
‘‘He then saw the said Robert baptised with great solemnity, the priest sprinkling the holy water excessively (superflue) in his face and in his eyes from the sacred font, wherefore he was angry for a long time with the aforesaid priest; and therefore he well knows that the said Robert has completed the age of 24 years.’’ CIPM, vii, no. 171. No fewer than six of William Moleyns’ jurors recalled his precocious behavior when they ‘‘saw him lift his right hand and take the said Philippa by her veil.’’ CIPM, xvii, no. 1321.
92.
CIPM, xxiii, no. 601.
93.
Ralph de Middleney, for example, devoted more space to his hunting than the ceremony-‘‘at his baptism the said Ralph was present, and in returning to his house in the park of the said William de Monte Acuto, late earl, at Duneyate, he took two bucks with his two red greyhounds (rubeis leporariis).’’ CIPM, xix, no. 224.
94.
John Plaint, for example, ‘‘brought fire to light the candle’’ (CIPM, xvii, no. 576), while John Broun’s job was to heat up the water in the font. CIPM, xviii, no. 310.
95.
CIPM, xvii, no. 1110; xviii, no. 885.
96.
After baptism, the baby was often taken to each of the church’s altars. For example, ‘‘Ralph Paylle, aged 45 years and more, agrees and says that the lady Alice Belers, mother of the aforesaid Roger Belers, was the heir’s godmother, and carried him in her hands to the high altar in the church and all the other altars there, in accordance with custom.’’ CIPM, xv, no. 159.
97.
There are 82 references to torches, starting in 1390 in Worcester and a further 37 mentions of large candles, first occurring in Rutland in 1356.
98.
Of the total of 82 mentions, between 1390 and 1430, over a quarter (21) were examples of ‘‘influenced’’ testimony where a juror was recorded as repeating, often in exactly the same or very similar wording, the statement of a fellow juror, hinting perhaps that the juror or recorder was recycling a plausible and useful testimony. Nevertheless, it seems likely that such testimony originated in actual practice.
99.
CIPM, xvi, no. 1057.
100.
For example, CIPM, xviii, no. 670.
101.
CIPM, xviii, nos. 671, 855, 970, 998.
102.
For example, CIPM, no. 273; xxi, no. 371.
103.
For example, CIPM, no. 656; xvii, no. 318; xix, no. 899.
104.
There are fifty references to hearing mass as part of a baptismal testimony. After 1400, there are thirty-six references to drinking vessels and a further fourteen to drinking in church.
105.
CIPM, xxi, no. 370.
106.
CIPM, xxiii, no. 598.
107.
Simon Curtays remembered carrying ‘‘a red carpet over her on four lances when she was taken to the church of All Saints, Gaynesburgh, to be baptised.’’ CIPM, xiv, no. 346.
108.
See CIPM, x, no. 333 for an example of the former usage; xviii, no. 315 for the latter.
109.
Ten of the thirteen ‘‘washing’’ motifs are from northern counties; nine of the fourteen ‘‘drinking’’ examples are from the south.